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I was sitting at my desk at the end of a very long and difficult day, looking at an endless string of email that had me stumped. Was punting an option? Maybe there's a respectable way of saying "I don't know what to do about this." As I sat and stewed, I slowly became aware that an elderly man had stepped into my office, holding his overstuffed briefcase in his hands. He clearly did not intend to interrupt my deep thoughts.

 

He introduced himself formally: an emeritus professor in the social sciences, still working full time, and still working on his decades-long relationship with the LSU Libraries. As he described the relationship, it gradually became clear that its various phases were much less important than the commitment that had obviously sustained the relationship all along.

 

I am so grateful that this professor dropped in that day. In the 5 months since I arrived here, I've had many such meetings with individuals and groups, each with their own LSU Libraries story to tell. The only thread connecting these stories is the commitment shared by that professor. "Friend-raising" is an important part of a Dean's job, but at LSU, the Libraries' friends are already here, they have only to be connected.

 

There will be no punting on that work. In the coming months, we will work with a re-energized Friends of the Libraries, we will hire a full-time director of major gifts, we will advertise, reach out, and promote the Libraries in every way we can. There is a place for you here as well; thank you for being a friend.

 

Stanley Wilder

Dean, LSU Libraries 

 

 

Amanda MacDonald joins LSU Libraries and the Office of Research and Economic Development as the new LSU Discover Librarian.  

 

MacDonald completed her master's degree in library science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was awarded a CALA (Carolina Academic Library Associates) graduate assistantship, which provided her with a full scholarship, a stipend, and professional training opportunities for the duration of her degree. While at Carolina, MacDonald worked in the undergraduate library in reference, instruction, outreach, and collection development. This assistantship was a great fit for her, as she was able to work closely with freshman English students and instructors. Prior to entering the library field, she earned a master's degree in English from Auburn University and taught college English courses. Her experience as an English instructor informs her work as a librarian.

 

Particularly interested in research, reference, and instructional services, MacDonald has attended and presented at local, regional, national, and international conferences in those areas. During the summer of 2013, she interned in the Rare Books and Special Collections Library at the American University in Cairo. As an intern, she worked closely with the research desk staff and developed training materials to support reference and instructional services. She fell in love with the people and the culture of Egypt and is currently working on a publication related to her experience.

 

While she had never been to Louisiana prior to her interview, she is excited about her new life in Baton Rouge. MacDonald enjoys watching SEC football and is looking forward to seeing a game in Tiger Stadium.   

 

 
Join us on December 3, at 3:00 p.m., in the Atchafalaya Room in the LSU Student Union to hear Joan Lippincott speak about how libraries can build close relationships with academic programs and teaching faculty through partnerships that leverage new pedagogies, technologies, content, and spaces. Libraries can become learning labs where a wide variety of content is visible and enticing to learners, who then become producers of new knowledge. Libraries can enable curricular innovation by providing content, services and technologies that serve their entire institutions. 

Planning for a dynamic interplay of pedagogies, technologies, and content in renovated library spaces takes intentional effort. In the past decade, libraries have become adept at creating lively spaces for student collaborative activities
that balance the traditional quiet, solo study spaces identified with traditional libraries.

Joan K. Lippincott is the Associate Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), a joint program of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and EDUCAUSE. CNI, based in Washington, DC, is an institutional membership organization that advances the transformative promise of networked information technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity. 

 

Though Washington D.C. has been her home for three decades, distinguished LSU alumna, veteran political strategist and commentator, author, and Democratic Party official Donna Brazile is a proud LSU graduate and Louisiana native. Now an important piece of her personal history has returned home, with her recent donation of her papers to the LSU Libraries Special Collections. 

 

"LSU was an indispensable part of my education, as a person and as a political operative," said Brazile, "from taking classes with life-changing professors to writing opinion pieces in The Daily Reveille to weekly Friday discussions on campus about the social justice issues of the day, LSU engrained in me a lifelong love of learning and shaped me as a political organizer. Because LSU gave me so much, I am humbled to give LSU Libraries Special Collections my papers and grateful to share my life's work to encourage and inspire the next generation of political activists to take their seats at the table."

 

A significant figure in Democratic politics, Brazile currently serves as Vice Chair of Voter Registration and Participation at the Democratic National Committee, and formerly chaired the Democratic National Committee (interim) and its Voting Rights Institute. Brazile is also a nationally syndicated columnist, a political commentator for CNN and ABC News, and a contributing writer to Ms. Magazine and O, The Oprah Magazine. In 2004 she published Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics (Simon and Schuster), a memoir of her life and her 30 years in politics. After the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita, then-Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco tapped Brazile to serve on the Louisiana Recovery Board.  

 

"On behalf of the LSU family, we enthusiastically accept Donna's papers with the utmost gratitude in doing so," stated LSU Provost Stuart Bell, "A pioneer for many, future generations will cherish the rich history that abounds in these treasured documents; those that detail her journey and someone with Louisiana beginnings who has achieved such great impact.  We are extremely proud of Donna Brazile, her many contributions to society and are humbled that she is sending her papers home to her LSU alma mater."

 

Brazile's papers are part of the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections in the LSU Libraries Special Collections, located in Hill Memorial Library. For additional information, contact Curator of Manuscripts Tara Laver at tzachar@lsu.edu.

 

Read more about Brazile's papers.  

 

LSU Libraries is a state of the art research library with a motto: "Access to Excellence." With that as its guide, Middleton Library extended its hours this fall to 24 hours, opening each Sunday at 11 a.m. and closing on Friday evenings at 8 p.m., in addition to Saturday hours. 

If social media response is a measure of success, this was an enormous one. Shortly after the announcement was made on the LSU Libraries' blog, word quickly spread on social media, with hundreds of tweets and retweets, shares and likes. "We can already see those GPAs rising!" noted LSU Residential Life's Facebook status. "You asked, they listened," tweeted LSU Dean of Students.

 

More than 600, soon to exceed 3000, pieces of sheet music are available to download in pdf format from the LSU Libraries, in the newest addition to LSU Libraries digital collections.     

The 600 pieces available include 148 complete pieces of music, and another 478 "sampled" pieces that are restricted by copyright from being scanned in their entirety. Incomplete digital pieces can be checked out in paper format from the Music Resources Center in Middleton Library.  

 

Numerous musicians have donated the loose sheet music to the Libraries over the years, and the collection has grown to include popular, classical, sacred, folk, and even holiday music. Most of the music was published in England and America between the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. The majority of the music is for solo voice and piano, but a number of other instruments are represented, including cello, flute, guitar, organ, ukulele, viola, and violin. The works of well-known composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy are represented alongside pieces arranged by John Jacob Niles and Harry Thacker Burleigh.

   

"We hope the descriptions and scans will make this music more accessible for study and performance and raise awareness about the variety of sheet music (both loose and bound) available in Music Resources," says Rachel Tillay, digital project manager.

 

Mikel LeDee, Music Resources Supervisor, adds "Digitizing the sheet music collection is a move in the right direction.  This will allow our students the ability to better access the collection and hopefully make their research experience more valuable."

 

For additional information about the physical sheet music or Music Resources, visit their web page. For additional information about the digital collection or the Louisiana Digital Library contact Gina Costello at gcoste1@lsu.edu .

 

 

Who has the best frozen yogurt and wings in Baton Rouge? Students in Miller Hall and the Engineering Residential College recently found out by participating in Quest 4 the Best events held in their dorms.  

 

Co-hosted by LSU Libraries, Residential Life's Faculty-in-Residence, and Communication across the Curriculum, students formulated arguments on which of three vendors provides the best food product. In groups, they interviewed fellow participants with firsthand experience for primary source information and researched online for resources ranging from newspaper reviews to calorie counts to Yelp ratings in order to support their choice.  

 

Students then presented their arguments, taking into consideration the authority, currency, usefulness, and purpose of their findings. After listening to each group's decision on the best product, students tried the three versions of the food to see if their taste-tested favorite matched with what they concluded through the research process. Engineering Librarian Emily Frank explained, "It's a fun, co-curricular event for students because they get to advocate for their choice and then try multiple versions of one of their favorite foods to see if their choice really is the best. And, in the process of formulating convincing arguments, they are exercising research skills, like learning to evaluate information and to give credit to the resources you use." Future events will explore new foods in other residential halls.   

 

The Herald (1921)

The National Endowment for the Humanities grant-funded Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project (DLNP), now in its third and final award cycle, has begun digitization of 49 additional Louisiana titles for contribution to the Library of Congress's full-text searchable newspaper database. Chronicling America provides access to more than 8.5 million historic newspaper pages from 38 U.S. states and territories. LSU Libraries was awarded previous grants in 2009 and 2011 by the NEH as part of the National Digital Newspapers Program (NDNP). 

 

By September 2015, approximately 329,000 pages from a total of 127 Louisiana newspapers published between 1836-1922 will be freely available on Chronicling America. These newspapers include 4 historically black titles, 24 French-language titles, and a Spanish-language title. All titles were preliminarily selected by an advisory board of teachers, archivists, historians, journalists, genealogists, and librarians. "LSU Libraries participation in the NDNP is remarkable for opening access to the variety of voices from parishes around the state at a time when landmark events in history were unfolding," said project manager Laura Charney. "Typically to access these newspapers you'd have to make a trip to the Libraries and search through microfilm. Now these incredible resources are available online, any time, to anyone in the world."

 

In addition to the digitization of the Louisiana titles and as part of this third grant award, DLNP staff is partnering with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) of Jackson, MS on their first grant from NDNP. DLNP staff provide technical expertise in the process of digitizing 104,000 pages from 135 historic Mississippi newspaper titles published between 1836-1922. These titles will also be available in Chronicling America by September 2015.

 

For more information about the Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project, including a complete list of titles, information on "How to Search" Chronicling America, topic guides to aid in research using these Louisiana newspapers, contextual essays for selected Louisiana newspapers, an overview of Louisiana journalism history, a visual exhibit of editorial cartoons, and more, visit the Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project on the LSU Libraries' website. 

 

White-headed Eagle, from John J. Audubon's Birds of America

Hill Memorial Library is known for its world class holdings of rare and unique materials and its exhibition program and  gallery space that features them. What many do not know, is that some of the collections have made recent guest appearances in other cultural heritage sites around Baton Rouge, including the Old State Capitol, the LSU Museum of Art, and the West Baton Rouge Museum.

 

While it is unusual for collections to leave the building, exceptions are made, especially for museums, who borrow the materials for short periods of time to enhance an exhibition. One of the largest recent loans, to the LSU Museum of Art, was for an exhibition of Margaret Stones drawings, which are part of the LSU Libraries Special Collections' E.A. McIlhenny Natural History Collection. The exhibition, entitled Margaret Stones's Flora of Louisiana: The Baton Rouge Connection, featured fifty-five watercolor drawings from the collection, and was curated by Randy Harelson.  

 

Three other area museum exhibitions currently feature materials from LSU Libraries Special Collections. A collection of printers' dies are on display at the Old State Capitol, entitled The Social History of Stationery. An art exhibition titled Accalia and the Swamp Monster: Works by Kelli Scott Kelley, curated by Dr. Katie Pfohl (LSU Museum of Art) is accompanied by a selection of books from Special Collections. And two Audubon prints are on display as part of Wild Land: Thomas Cole and the Birth of American Landscape Paintings, part of an NEH-funded exhibition at the West Baton Rouge Museum.

 

Loaning materials for exhibition in other institutions requires care and planning, thorough documentation, facilities reports, and much more. LSU Libraries Special Collections is pleased to work with these fine institutions to help make their exhibitions more dynamic with the addition of items from our collections. Good stewardship in Special Collections means protecting our holdings for the future. It also involves making them available today, and being open to diverse ways to use the collections.

  

Access to Excellence

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